Herbert Lippert | Lohengrin

The austrian and former member of the Vienna Boys Choir Herbert Lippert is considered amongst the most important tenors of our times. The first promoters of his voice were Sir Georg Solti and Wolfgang Sawallisch, under whose direction came numerous recordings like Die Schöpfung, Don Giovanni and Die Meister­singer von Nürnberg. In 1997, Herbert Lippert was awardsd a Grammy Award for his interpretation of the role of David in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg under the direction of Sir Georg Solti. He is connected to the Vienna Philharnomic not only through intensive work in the opera and concert sector, but also through cooperation in the field of operetta, in particular the "degenerate operetta". Some great successes in the Lied field include Lieder evenings with Wolfgang Sawallisch and Maurizio Pollini. He is an ensemble member of the Vienna State Opera where made his debut in 1985 in La Traviata, and has sung roles here like Tamino, Matteo, Fla­mand, Don Ottavio, Offizier (Cardillac), Belmonte, Alfred, Froh, Walther von der Vogelweide, Skuratov, Aegisth, Jim Mahoney, Peter Grimes, Erik and Eisenstein.

Elena Zhidkova | Ortrud, seine Gemahlin

The Russian mezzo-soprano ELENA ZHIDKOVA was engaged at the Deutsche Oper Berlin by Götz Friedrich. There, she has sung (excerpt) Olga (Eugen Onegin), Cherubino (Nozze di Figaro) and Dorabella (Così fan tutte).She has guested as Flosshilde and Schwertleite at the Bayreuther Festspiele. Claudio Abbado invited her for the concertante performance of Parsifal, for Schumann´s Faust scenes as well as for his farewell concert at the Berliner Philharmonie. With Nikolaus Harnoncourt she performed there again in Händel´s Jephta. She sang Agnese in Beatrice di Tenda with the orchestra of the Bayerische Rundfunk. She made her debut at the Teatro Real Madrid as Waltraute (Götterdämmerung) and as Brangäne in Tristan and Isolde. As a sought-after guest she for example sang Octavian (Rosenkavalier), Fricka (Ring des Nibelungen) and Brangäne (Tristan und Isolde) at the New National Theatre Tokyo. In the Leipzig new production of Rienzi she sang Adriano. She enjoyed great success as Judith (Herzog Blaubarts Burg) at the premiere at La Scala, and with the same part she guested at the Barbican Hall London with the London Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Valéry Gergiev – a live CD was published. Future projects are for example Waltraute (Götterdämmerung) in Sevilla, Marie (Wozzeck) in Tokyo, Charlotte (Werther) in Bilbao as well as Kundry (Parsifal) in Oslo.

Adrian Eröd | Der Heerrufer des Königs

After his studies at the Musikhochschule in Vienna, where he studied among others under Walter Berry, Adrian Eröd’s career went from the Wiener Kammeroper over the Landestheater in Linz to the Wiener Volksoper and finally the Wiener Staatsoper, which would play a central role alongside his international engagements to his artistic future. Since his debut in 2001 at the Wiener Staatsoper as Mercutio inRoméo et Juliette, Adrian Eröd has sung works like Guglielmo, Beckmesser, Loge, Conte d’Almaviva, Figaro (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Dr. Falke, Albert, the leading role in Benjamin Brittens Billy Budd, Olivier (Capriccio) and the male leading role- which was written for him – Jason in Aribert Reimanns Medea. He has also sung, among others at the Teatro La Fenice in Venedig (Harlekin), an der Hamburgischen Staatsoper (Pelléas), an der Oper Frank­furt (Prospero in Adès’ The Tempest), bei den Bayreuther Festspielen und an der Oper Zürich (Beckmesser). Finally, he has sung e.g. at the Tokyo National Opera, the Opéra de Paris and at the Bayreuther Festspielen.

Roles for the Wiener Staatsoper 2014/2015: Prospero, Eisenstein.

With Hungary threatening East Francia after a nine-year truce, King Henry I is visiting all his duchies and counties to assemble a large army. He also travels to Brabant, where there is little enthusiasm for taking part in a campaign so far from home. To make matters worse, the king must settle a dispute about the Brabantian succession: Elsa, daughter of the deceased Duke of Brabant, has been accused by Friedrich of Telramund of having murdered her brother Gottfried. Telramund is supported in his accusation by his wife Ortrud, who comes from an old family that formerly ruled Brabant. Ortrud, who is in fact responsible for Gottfried's disappearance, plans not only to win back sovereignty over Brabant for herself and her family, but also to restore the old pagan religion and the associated customs and practices.
Elsa, who is challenged by King Henry to respond to the accusation, instead tells the assembled company of a dream in which a knight appeared to her, offering to defend her. When a trial by combat is proclaimed, the knight of whom Elsa dreamed actually appears in a small boat drawn by a swan. He offers Elsa protection and marriage, on the condition that she never ask his name and where he comes from. Elsa promises solemnly, and the unknown knight defeats Telramund in combat, proving Elsa's innocence.
Ortrud, who cannot reconcile herself to the outcome of the trial by combat, once again persuades Telramund of Elsa's supposed guilt. She also tries to sow doubt in Elsa's heart about the mysterious nature of the unknown knight.
When on the day of her wedding Elsa walks to the wedding altar with the knight, Ortrud disputes her precedence, since Elsa cannot even state the name of her future husband. For his part, Telramund accuses the knight of sorcery. Although Ortrud and Telramund are rebuffed, the seeds of doubt now begin to grow in Elsa's breast.
After the wedding, Elsa and her husband are led to the bridal chamber, where they face each other alone for the first time. Plagued by growing doubts, Elsa finally poses the forbidden question precisely at the moment when Telramund bursts into the room to kill the unknown knight. In the ensuing fight, Telramund is killed, but this victory is of no benefit to Elsa. When the soldiers gather the next morning to go off to battle alongside King Henry and led by the unknown knight whom all admire, he reveals his secret: he is Lohengrin, the son of Parsifal, King of the Grail Knights. Since his identity is now known, he must leave Elsa and Brabant. When Ortrud triumphantly declares that she herself transformed Elsa's brother Gottfried into Lohengrin's swan, before he disappears Lohengrin breaks the spell with a prayer, thereby restoring Gottfried's human form.